Law lords rule that sex in public is not illegal

EXCLUSIVE: Law Lords have given the thumbs up to outdoor sex - as long as couples aren't trying to be seen.

Law Lords have given the thumbs up to outdoor sex - as long as couples aren't trying to be seen.

All public sex acts used to be considered acts of indecency.

But a landmark decision by three judges has quashed a conviction handed out to a man and a woman engaged in a sex act in a Dundee cemetery.

Experts believe it means rules about public sex have been turned upside down.

One source said: "If couples have sex in a location that is not a busy public place or area, and have taken efforts to conceal themselves, they are unlikely to be convicted.

"Essentially, you are not committing a crime if someone stumbles upon you.

"For example, if a couple have sex in a remote forest, when no one appears to be around, they are not going to be convicted if they were spotted and reported to the police.

"If somebody intends to be seen - and evidence shows that - they'll always be convicted."

A prostitute, referred to as DF, had originally been found guilty of an act of public indecency after being with a client in Dundee's Eastern Cemetery last summer.

But appeal court judges ruled that no crime had been committed as the pair had tried to hide behind bushes and had not intended to be seen.

Lord Bonomy ruled the conviction was flawed, adding: "If that were correct, it would follow that any intimate sexual activity to which the public ought not to be exposed would constitute the offence of public indecency if it took place in the open air."

Theo Finlay, a partner with law firm Finlay MacRae, who was involved with the case, said: "Previously, there has been a tendency to charge and prosecute people for offences of this sort simply because the activity occured in a public place.

"Now, the police will have to think much more carefully over whether they charge somebody with public indecency."